World History Homework Three Answers - Student Ten

1. I enjoy learning about China better. Their science was more interesting—among other things, they invented the kite, gunpowder, and the famous sailing vessel the junk. Despite the inauspicious name, the junk is an extremely easy craft to handle and a good all-purpose ship.

Never heard of "the junk" as a sailing vessel. Thanks for the interesting tidbit of history!

2. Hinduism adapts very well to other religions by accepting their deities as one of the many Hindu gods. By accepting the Buddha as a god, they absorbed all the Buddhists actually in India. Besides, the river Ganges in India is sacred and good Hindus are supposed to bathe in its water several times in their lives. That would be impractical for someone in China!

Good humor and analyzing the differences.

3. This famous yin-yang symbol is the summation of the religion Taoism or Daoism. It symbolizes the harmony/conflict between the active, optimistic, “light”, masculine forces and the passive, pessimistic, “dark” feminine forces. This concept is difficult for many non-Taos to grasp.

Superb.

4. Hinduism does not have a strict set of laws binding adherents to an absolute code. Besides, it incorporates into its own idea of the many gods deities from other religions. This makes it hard to convert one.

Excellent.

5. One of my favorite insights of Sun Tzu is, “In war, then, let your object be victory, not lengthily campaigns.” The Americans could have used a good dose of that in the Vietnam War, rather than letting the Viet Cong call phony peace conferences every so often to build their forces.

Fantastic, may use as a model answer.

6. In Imperial China, the first known dynasty was the Shang dynasty, from 1766 to 1122 B.C. After that came the Zhou dynasty, from 1027 to 221 B.C. The Zhou dynasty was overthrown in 221 by the Qin dynasty, which lasted from 221 to 206 B.C. Finally, the Han dynasty lasted from 206 B.C. to A.D. 20.

Correct.

7. The Internet transmits information about many people, things, and events. You can order things from many online stores such as EBay, and most major companies have a website for their products. The main difference between the Internet and the Silk Road was that the Silk Road was much slower (except if you have a bad connection). In the ancient world, though, caravans would bring foreign news to many people.

Great humor again, about having "a bad connection." You made me chuckle twice with your answers, which is powerful skill to have. You will be very successful with good humor.

H2. I do not think Confucianism is a religion. It does not take any view of an afterlife, unlike most religions. It is more of a rational system of reasoning for learning and good behavior.

Right.

H4. I think China’s greatest contribution to the world was gunpowder. This simple mixture of sulfur, ground charcoal, and saltpeter changed the face of warfare forever. Battles were no longer fought at close range with swords, spears, and pikes, even though the first cannons made were inaccurate and unreliable.

Excellent.

H5. Without zero as a concept, algebra and every other kind of mathematics would be extremely difficult, especially with the Arabic numerals used by us today. Numbers such as 10 and 100 would be difficult to express, and it would be hard to make the jump from negative numbers to positive numbers. (3, 2, 1, -1,-2 does not work as well).